Posted on 08/26/2018 8:03:36 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
KABUL (Reuters) - The head of Islamic State in Afghanistan, Abu Saad Erhabi, was killed in a strike on the group’s hideouts in Nangarhar province on Saturday night, authorities said on Sunday.
Ten other members of the militant group were also killed in a joint ground and air operation by Afghan and foreign forces, the National Directorate of Security in Kabul said in a statement.
A large amount of heavy and light weapons and ammunition were destroyed during raids on two Islamic State hideouts.
The jihadist group’s Amaq’s news agency carried no comment on the issue.
Lieutenant-Colonel Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said the United States carried out a strike in Afghanistan on Saturday against a “senior leader of a designated terrorist organization.”
The provincial governor of Nangarhar said Erhabi was the fourth Islamic State leader in Afghanistan to be killed since July 2017.
The group has developed a stronghold in Nangarhar, on Afghanistan’s porous eastern border with Pakistan, and become one of the country’s most dangerous militant groups.
The local affiliate of Islamic State, sometimes known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) after an old name for the region that includes Afghanistan, has been active since 2015, fighting the Taliban as well as Afghan and U.S. forces.
Former ISIS-K leader Abu Sayed was killed in a strike in the eastern province of Nangarhar and Sayed’s predecessors were killed in joint U.S. and Afghan operations.
The exact number of Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan is difficult to calculate because they frequently switch allegiances, but the U.S. military estimates there are about 2,000.
More than 150 Islamic State fighters surrendered to Afghan security forces this month in the northwestern province of Jawzjan, where the group is fighting for control of smuggling routes into neighboring Turkmenistan.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Whack-a-Mole. Another one will pop right back up.
They’ll get many applicants - but you should see the job description!
We finally got the top guy for a change. It is usually the 2nd in command.
Yup. Hydra says ‘hi’.
Yeah, everyone wants to move up the chain if it’s an intermediary. If we can get the head with some regularity, eager beavers may not want it so much.
He was probably the #3 guy in the whole organization
What if we killed the son of Bin Laden?
The Hydra of mythology was killed by burning out its heart.
50 kT delivered to N 21° 25’ 21.1’’ E 39° 49’ 34.3’’ should do it...
Good. Usually we only get the #2 head.
KaaBANG
50 kT? Well, I guess that’s big enough. As long as the glowing crater is large enough to be seen from orbit.
Singing “Saturday Night Fever”, “Saturday is all right for fighting”, and Stevie Tyler’s new song “Drone On”.
Dead is good and multiple dead is ever better. Keep piling them high and wide, then deep, very deep, even if you have to use matchboxes as coffins. All they’ve got to look forward to is Helen Thomas in a thong bikini, for the rest of time.
I’m good with that.
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